BFG

Hence the asterisk and footnote haha

I love March Madness and have been hoping for years to get a game in HR. Getting this to 12-13K could at least make that a reality. Deep down I’m still hoping we could get a pro team that maybe calls Scope its temporary home, but in the meantime developers believe this could get us major events, and I’m hoping March Madness is at least one of them. What really needs to happen is Norfolk, VB, and Chesapeake’s mayors need to come together and get serious about a regional arena that can be funded with a hotel tax. Location doesn’t matter, and I think some sort of revenue split could be agreed upon*. *Fully aware two of those cities couldn’t even agree on where to place an outlet mall.

Yes. There’s at least one brewery over there, Afterglow, and I believe another one opened in the old Bold Mariner space. There’s also Chicken Salad Chick, Sanctuary tacos, and Biscuit Belly, although I’m not sure if the latter is open yet. All three are really good.

If I ever find myself agreeing with anything Karen, umm…Kerry has to say, please take me to the nearest doctor. Fortunately I don’t have to change my thoughts on her, most of which aren’t suitable for this forum.

This is the updated rendering. Looks like they added about five rows to the upper deck (under the window). I counted about 700 in that section alone, and with the lower level addition, that appears to be another 700. I think 13,000-14,000 minimum is doable. Wish they could add luxury boxes and some LED ribbon lights but I’m a little more optimistic here.

Hence the reason why Tidewater Garden residents have (valid) reservations about SPQ. At least the city is doing a lot better handling that one.

I'm in Greenbrier. If they could get this to go to the airport, NSU/ODU, and downtown, it would be a vast improvement and I'd use it in a heartbeat. Bonus points if they could get it to Town Center and the Beach without the NIMBYs complaining.

This is the approach that should be taken moving forward for every city, esp. when it comes to infrastructure, major jobs, or things like an arena or entertainment complex. Atlantic Park isn't going to only be used by VB residents; same for whatever arena Norfolk builds or for what goes in Summit Pointe. If we got an Amazon or Apple in Suffolk, people from all over the 757/948 would work there. We've been saying this for years. Let's see if it actually comes to fruition this time. I love that VB now has a manager who worked in other cities as an economic developer.

I stumbled upon a Washington Post article from 1985 that basically hypes the area’s progress during the first half of the 80s. Makes me wish I had been a little older when Norfolk underwent the revitalization in the early-80s. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1985/05/24/norfolk-and-the-beach/9bdb7197-5fb9-4d28-9479-2697483369d2/

OKC's arena is about 580K square footage. T-Mobile in Vegas is 650K; Golden 1 Center in Sacramento is 780K. IIRC, the mall takes up about 900K SF so I think you'd have to tear down a lot more than what's being proposed here. As much as I like the proposal, I wouldn't be against mixed-use that allows for a 15-17K seat arena, hotel, and apartments. If I have a time machine, I'm going back in time 30 years and telling Mayor Fraim to make an arena part of MacArthur, and make the rest open-air shopping with a hotel. Think Short Pump or Ovation Hollywood (formerly Hollywood and Highland) in L.A. EDIT: I know the developers at the time (Taubman?) insisted on a suburban-style mall but THAT would've been the new millennium game changer for downtown back in '99! Council wanted mixed-use and should've dug in their heels IMO, even if meant finding another developer.

From this angle you can see the base, which appears to be at least the shell from the Greyhound station. Plenty of space there for retail shops.

I’m begging the city not to change a single thing from those renderings. That’s an awesome design, and it looks like they’re incorporating some of the original Greyhound station too.

Norfolk. I’m begging you to make this one happen, preferably in the next five years. I’ve gotten my hopes up way too many times.

The Virginia Film Office also mentions portions will be filmed here. I’d be willing to take their word for it, although Blaine Stewart (the “goofball” in that IG video) is an anchor for WTKR. I’d be willing to take his word for it as well.

Looks like the show is back on at Scope, June 23. The band also offers its defense over what happened last week. https://www.pilotonline.com/2024/04/11/ajr-announces-new-norfolk-scope-date-after-last-minute-cancellation/

^^^For the life of me I don't understand why Norfolk stopped embracing the Mermaid City moniker. You might hear it every so often but for whatever reason it never really took off, at least compared to 15 years ago. The mermaids and NFK should be the city's identity and they shouldn't be afraid to make it a thing.

That’s a waste of prime real estate.

The tall building in the background is Dominion Enterprises. I’m guessing the one in the foreground is Harbor Heights. In another couple years they’d stay on the Wells Fargo tower. What would it take to get more cranes in the ground? Even with just two buildings under construction downtown had more construction activity than it does now.

I feel like a lotta that applies to HR too. Although we offer a little more with downtown Norfolk and the beaches, when I worked in news I saw several employees come to the area as a stepping stone to a Top 10 market like DC or San Francisco. I almost did the former but I’ve grown to love the area more.

Someone mentioned it upthread but it looks like they will indeed shoot a bit in Hampton Roads as well. According to WTKR it’ll be shot in VB in 1977…would be hard to create a beach in RVA or ATL. https://www.instagram.com/reel/C5Y195yutGr/?igsh=MWJuc3R5bjZubjRmaQ==

I follow Councilwoman McClellan on Facebook. She seemed blindsided by all this, and the reactions in the comments go back and forth between "we need a new arena" or "upgrade Scope because it should be saved" (most agree the former is more ideal, albeit pricey). When I asked her about the 2017-18 plans to gut the place and start fresh, she made it seem like they're exploring all options and to me her response implied they want to do more than what was proposed a few weeks ago, depending on the budget.

Richmond’s film industry is much stronger than ours. They’ve gotten a few major projects thanks to their film office. A few years ago, I was an extra on the show “Homeland” which filmed not far from RIR so none of that surprises me.

I really want that to be a wake up call for Norfolk but I’m not holding my breath. Excellent for Portsmouth.

Congrats on VCU! It’s a great school and I love their downtown campus. My fiancée and I went to to DC for NYE weekend and on the way back had lunch in Richmond. They have a nice downtown but I couldn’t help but notice that it didn’t seem very active. New Year’s Day was a Monday so maybe people were still hungover, but I think Granby seems busier by comparison. I wanna go back though…it was also pretty gloomy that day.

https://www.pilotonline.com/2024/04/02/ajr-cancels-norfolk-show-on-day-of-concert-says-scope-is-too-small/ Indie band AJR cancels its show the day off because Scope is too small. (rant deleted) Looking around, this may be a copout on their end but Norfolk still needs to figure out a game plan for Scope and maybe a new arena.